K D Ewing, BONFIRE OF THE LIBERTIES. NEW LABOUR, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND THE RULE OF LAW Oxford: Oxford University Press (www.oup.com), 2010. xxiii + 310 pp. ISBN 9780199584772 (hb). £50. ISBN 9780199584789 (pb). £19.99.
| Date | 01 January 2011 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2011.0014 |
| Published date | 01 January 2011 |
| Pages | 154-156 |
As its title suggests, this book is a damning assessment of civil liberties since New Labour. It is not simply that the UK Parliament conferred extended powers on the police and intelligence services as a response to the events of 11th September, 2001 and 7th July 2005, but that even
In the tradition of W I Jennings, the author is focussed on the conferral of power. He systematically documents the great expansion of the powers of the police and other public agencies: these include surveillance and interception powers; limitations on freedoms of speech, assembly, the press, and the rights of whistle blowers; and increased powers of detention. He questions the need for such broad powers and the effectiveness of the controls on their exercise. No one comes out unscathed: neither the predictable villains (the Interception Commissioner, the House of Commons, the Hutton Inquiry, the judiciary); the less predictable villains (local government and, depending on your predilections, the judiciary); nor even on occasion the Joint Committee on Human Rights (30). The European Court of Human Rights fares better than the House of Lords. The Scottish police (and presumably Scottish governments) fare better than their counterparts in England and Wales. The Scottish courts receive only brief mention and are judged to be deferential (279). The Equality and Human Rights Commission is notable for its absence: its assessment of the human rights record over the same period in its
The documentation of the extent to which governments under New Labour have used public power to attack liberty is powerful and disturbing. And this book aims to unsettle those who would exaggerate what bills of rights protections are capable of...
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